Few works stir up as much debate over their 'meaning' as Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. And equally few works can boast an interpreter with such insight as Mstislav Rostropovich. His friendship with the composer gives him an almost unique understanding of Shostakovich's inner traumas, and as with the 2002's outstandingly successful LSO Live recording of the Symphony No 11, he inspires the LSO's players to the heights of virtuosity.

Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 was given its premiere in 1937. It was outwardly in compliance with the ruling party, but the public heard a message of suffering in Shostakovich's masterpiece and it was an unprecedented triumph. Symphony No.12 "The Year 1917" was dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. Both works were premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky. The performances featured here were recorded in December 1965.

Leonard Bernstein's 1945 recording of the Fifth Symphony bears testament, if any were needed, to the prowess of the then 27-year-old wunderkind. The quality of the recording is low by modern standards, in particular the high strings and flutes, which take on a sibilant, peevish quality, but one can hear the authority of the performance all the same.

I believe this was Previn's first recording with the London Symphony, back in 1965. This period yielded a bumper crop of fine recordings with this team, including Nielsen's First Symphony, Scheherazade, and Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony. This is as fine a Shostakovich Fifth as I have ever heard. […]

Internationally recognized as one of the most talented conductors of his generation, Yuri Temirkanov has been the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra since 1988.

"deep, meaningful, gripping music, classical in the integrity of its conception, perfect in form and the mastery of orchestral writing—music striking for its novelty and originality, but at the same time somehow hauntingly familiar, so truly and sincerely does it recount human feelings." - Heinrich Neuhaus

Following with my uploads on Mariss Jansons recordings i want to share with you a long neglected recording of Shostakovich's 5th by Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic. This recording seems to be forgotten by the EMI staff who put the recording with the Vienna Philharmonic in the set of the symphonies. Enjoy!

First Beethoven, then Sibelius and now Mahler: Music Director Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra launch their newest major recording project with an album of Gustav Mahler’s three-part, five-movement Fifth Symphony.